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Sunday, September 5, 2010

I don't think yesterday could have been any more perfect. The brilliant blue sky made it easy to be in a good mood. The weather was cool enough to leave the deck door wide open while we cooked outside. I had some college football game on the television but the sound turned down and the stereo playing our favorite old compact disks. We were just enjoying each others company on a gorgeous day.

Heat oven to 375° F. Combine flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, sage, and cheddar in large bowl. Slowly stir in beer and mix just until combined. Batter will be thick. Spread in a greased loaf pan. Beat the egg and water together and brush gently over top of loaf. Bake until golden, ~45 mins.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove bread from pan and cool it directly on rack until ready to serve... either warm or at room temp.

Alexis had her Egg set up as a coal fired convection oven - plate setter in with the legs down. The "plate setter" is a thick ceramic insert for the Big Green Egg used for indirect cooking. They also fit in the Big Steel Keg (f.k.a. Bubba Keg). Can you tell which one is mine and which one is hers?

She had a pizza stone already in there from the cookies she baked earlier....so she just put her stoneware loaf pan on top of that.The temps were a little low at first (350f) but she got them back to 375f by opening the bottom vent a little. Because of that dip, it ended up taking right at 1 hour to bake.

While she was baking that, I used my Egg to make my European Street Style Beer Cheese Soup in a Lodge #12 cast iron dutch oven. I followed that recipe as previously written but did one thing differently. I cooked three slices of bacon in the dutch oven first, removed them and used that oil for sauteing the mirepoix.

This was the perfect meal to end the perfect day.The beer cheese soup was velvety (yet no Velveeta, tyvm) and rich with just a slight kick from the Fire Ant Juice. The beer bread was a joy to bite into. My choice of beverage for dinner? Why beer of course!

What a lovely post, Chris. You communicated the grooviness of the day quite well and the food looks divine. In my mind's eye I can see a cross-stitch that declares, "The Family that Grills Together, Chills Together." :)

What a great post Chris. I'm so impressed with this bread from the Egg. Can't wait to hear about more of Alexis' egg creations...of course yours too. I love that soup. We had temps in the 70's today, I'm in the mood for some fall food.

Sounds like a fantastic day. I was actually in the company of a Green Egg myself this weekend? :) And we actually had some milder temps down here too for a change - so glad FINALLY! Course, it's warming right back up and it's a few weeks before summer is gone officially and even longer down here, so I'll take the cooler days as they come!

Need to try this bead recipe. A friend of ours gave us some beer bread - his was way too sweet for my taste though. Hubs drinks no alcohol so he refused to touch it. Guess who ate most of it? ;)

Isn't the beer bread wonderful? I love it and have made it more than a few times since my first attempt. You know I'm not much of a baker but this comes out perfect every time - it's good with cheese and without. If you haven't tried it yet be sure to toast some buttered slices under the broiler!